Ponga Pounamu

12 February (US time) is reveal day for the first Twelve by Twelve challenge for 2012. I’ll be posting my official contribution later on today. Meanwhile, here’s the piece that didn’t quite make it:

My inspiration was the changing form of the silver fern, a national emblem of New Zealand. From the tightly wound spiral koru to the gentle draping of the elongated ponga fronds. Here are some photos taken by my sisters Chantel and Amy:

When I found out that pounamu (the Maori name for greenstone/jade) is a metamorphic rock, I also explored koru motifs used in pounamu jewellery but found the curved shapes too difficult to render in freeform piecing at a small scale. The koru motifs in the left hand panel were created with textile paints and freezer paper stencils.

Look out on the Twelve by Twelve blog for the Metamorphosis reveal in 12 hours or so. I can’t wait to see what the imaginative Twelves come up with!